I've really cut back at the moment. I had been watching Life on Mars, but sort of forgot about it after a while, and now I've decided just to catch it on DVD/Blu-ray. Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money have both been cancelled, and I have no idea when the rest of the episodes will turn up. So, I'm basically just watching 30 Rock and The Office right, both of which are quite strong at the moment. I'm curious about Kings, though... Ian McShane back on TV? I'll definitely check it out.

Chuck....which really is the most entertaining show on TV. If you are not watching it, you should be.Battlestar Galactica....the first episode of the second half of season 2 was an absolute stunner. Supernatural....better than it has any right to be.Lost....for some reason my Tivo didn't record it, so now I'm kind of wondering if I should just wait. Season 4 was fan-freakin'-tastic.From the UK I have been watching Hustle series 4 and it is entertaining but kind of standing in place. Also watching Demons....which is kind of a Brit Buffy but geared more towards teens.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

HGervais wrote:Lost....for some reason my Tivo didn't record it, so now I'm kind of wondering if I should just wait. Season 4 was fan-freakin'-tastic.

I am going to reserve my final judgement, but based on the first two episodes... LOST may be jumping the shark this year. They have introduced some very far out science fiction scenarios, dropped the character studies that made the show so great, and even retooled the whole "flashback/flashforward" scenarios in favor of more linear storytelling. I am sorry to say that the brilliant end of Season 4 led to an improbable start for Season 5. But back in Season 3 I may have said the same thing with the whole "WE'RE IN ANIMAL CAGES!" scenario, and that year got much better even superior in many ways to anything that came before it. We will have to see, but right now I would be tempted to say... wait for the DVD. But then I could never do that with this show because I would get all sorts of spoilers all year long. And there were some appropriate shocks to the premiere. Mixed bag really!

Alex: It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. (Clockwork Orange)

I've actually found mysefl enjoying a little Canadian content, with the new CBC series Being Erica. The show looks a little cheap and the acting is so-so (as it is with much Canadian TV), but it's an intersting premise. Said premise is about a 32-year-old woman whose life is in a funk, and through her therapist she travels back in time to try to fix mistakes that she's made in the past.

Some mistakes she fixes, some she makes worse. Once she returns to the present, life is still the same. I like the idea of trying to change your destiny through time travel, and the conceit that your fate is your fate no matter what mistakes you try to correct.

Three episodes into Lost season five and I am completely sold. I think the new storytelling structure is pretty freaking amazing. Does anyone think the girl with the rifle last night was Farraday's mother? And Widmore knew to fund Farraday's research because he met him while on the island 50 years ago? Stroke of brilliance.I also like how the creators seem to be saying the island requires some kind of offering of the dead as in Ben being so keen to hang to Locke or Jack's father in his coffin. There have been so many twists & turns already my head in spinning in that very Lost way and I love it. No show on TV offers up as many ideas in 45 minutes as does Lost. How old is Richard anyway?

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

^^^ The complete opposite effect on me, the show has been plummeting and become pure BS nonsense since S4. I knew just as "Lost" became a huge hit in 2004 (when I didn't watch it; didn't start until Season 3) that, in order to keep the mysteries that everyone at the office was talking about the next day going for at least 100 episodes, the producers/writers would have to resort to fantasy and/or improbable crap in order to keep these people stuck in that island. This isn't "The X-Files" or "Battlestar Galactica" where there are countries, cities, alternate universes and/or planets that help sell the illusion of something new and different. "Lost" is forced by its own premise (castaways on a mysterious island) to have to revolve around characters getting into or out of that stupid setting, but now time travel has been added to flashbacks/flashforwards to help the writers throw a convenient 'fade to white' to retcon a scene or moment. Season 5 is a complete BS mess out of the gate (with plummeting ratings showing many viewers are getting off the merry-go round) and the only reason I'm still watching it is because my sister (who works odd hours as a nurse and can't program a VCR to save her life! ) is still addicted and needs me to tape the show for her. Plus "Lost" remains the single best-looking high-definition show on TV. Pure eye candy!

anyone else watching Lie to Me? it's good...no it's REALLY good....not to miss good in case they cancel it good.

full of all kinds of CSI techy stuff about reading people's mannerisms, good production values wonderful acting funny dialogue... I would LOVE to sic Cal Lightman (Tim Roth's character) on House...and then watch Kyra's Brenda Lee Johnson tear them both a new one...hee hee...

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

I could not disagree more. The show is intelligent, thoughtful and refuses to talk down to its audience. That it has taken an absurd situation and built this incredible mythology around it and that it manages to constantly twist around itself paying of events & off-the-cuff remarks which occured seasons before reminds me of the best of Buffy & Angel. After a brilliant fourth season, the show is clearly enjoying its new status quo and picking up steam towards its conclusion. You may see a mess but I see a puzzle where you have to pay attention for the answers.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

HGervais wrote:Three episodes into Lost season five and I am completely sold. I think the new storytelling structure is pretty freaking amazing. Does anyone think the girl with the rifle last night was Farraday's mother? And Widmore knew to fund Farraday's research because he met him while on the island 50 years ago?

Word on Farraday's mother. And unless it was a production flaw, is Widmore's identity being hidden from folks on the island? It says "Jones" on his BDUs. Or do I have the tin foil hat on too tight?

And re: the S5 ratings, apparently Fox did some sort of sneaky crap with American Idol last week, hence the ratings drop. That said, I don't know what how the quarter hours (or last night's numbers) were.

"The passion of our supporters cannot possibly be contained by clothing."

HGervais wrote:Three episodes into Lost season five and I am completely sold.

Seconded or thirded or whatever. What a great start! As much as I enjoyed the flashbacks and forwards, as we hurtle towards the end of this roller coaster ride, the show runners have found the perfect way to keep numerous action-packed story threads going at the same time. Introducing time travel means we get to see what went on during the pre-, during, and post-Dharma days without having to introduce new characters to justify flashbacks to places and times no one we know would have been. And while some fans have complained about the sacrifice of character drama for pure story, I think we know more than enough about the characters by now. I don't need more obscure Jack backstory. I want to know what's happening to everyone now...or then...or not yet.

The best thing about S5 is that it rewards those who have stuck with the show. If you haven't been watching, or stopped in seasons 2 or 3, don't bother trying to get back into it now. That'd be like starting The Stand 700 pages in. Just hide out in a cave and wait for the complete series DVDs.

Oh, and I definitely think that Ellie is Daniel's mother—and that maybe Widmore is his father. Dig on that.

reefa wrote:And re: the S5 ratings, apparently Fox did some sort of sneaky crap with American Idol last week, hence the ratings drop. That said, I don't know what how the quarter hours (or last night's numbers) were.

0.2 down in the 18-49 demo to a 4.9 (lowest number ever in that prized demo) and a little over 11 million viewers, down from 11.5 million last week (which was down from the 13 million watching the season before) and a far cry from the 22 million that tuned in to Season 2. "Lie To Me" is beating "Lost" in total viewers (but not in the demo) and both are beaten soundly by CBS' "Criminal Minds" (again though, "Lost" still beats the competition in the 18-49 demo). Source: http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/785106681

reefa wrote:And re: the S5 ratings, apparently Fox did some sort of sneaky crap with American Idol last week, hence the ratings drop. That said, I don't know what how the quarter hours (or last night's numbers) were.

0.2 down in the 18-49 demo to a 4.9 (lowest number ever in that prized demo) and a little over 11 million viewers, down from 11.5 million last week (which was down from the 13 million watching the season before) and a far cry from the 22 million that tuned in to Season 2. "Lie To Me" is beating "Lost" in total viewers (but not in the demo) and both are beaten soundly by CBS' "Criminal Minds" (again though, "Lost" still beats the competition in the 18-49 demo). Source: http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/785106681

Yes but even though only 4% of 8 - 15 year olds prefer Lost to American Idol, 16 - 23 year olds prefer Lost to Idol by a margin of 42%. That's out of a 108-person sample group.

I am still having a love-hate relationship with Fringe. I have managed to stick with the series throughout its run, weathering the typical FOX preemptions and small holiday hiatuses that had us trying to remember what the heck was going on over a month ago.

Loves:John Noble steals the show as Walter. His 17-year confinement in the booby hatch is a great plot device to allow him to operate a few steps out from everyone else, and get away with it each episode.

The weekly "bear" - the weird scenario that causes even weirder deaths. Loved the liquefying brains this week!

Hates:Anna Torv gives me a rash. The typical model-quality beauty that gets to stand around and make all the oversexed teenagers go "yeah, she's really hot!!!". Can't Olivia learn to smile occasionally? She reminds me of Peggy Lipton in The Mod Squad.

And a pox on the casting pukes that are totally WASTING Jasika Nicole's character! Why does the Caucasian blonde get all the action, while the lovely mixed-race lady is stuck in the lab with Walter forgetting her name all the time? Astrid is smart and cool under pressure, please give her a little more to do! This is a syndrome that seems to happen often on TV, I'm surprised that advocacy groups for actors of color haven't made more of a stink about it. They did the same thing on Torchwood last year, killing off smart and interesting Toshiko while leaving milquetoast do-nothings like Ianto very much alive (oh, I forgot - Ianto is Captain Jack's boy-toy, so he gets special treatment!).

Depends on if you have seen the original BBC show. If not then yeah, it isn't that bad. If you have, then I don't think so.

+1

The U.S. version is good, but the original 2-season U.K. series is brilliant. One of the problems with the U.S version is that it often tries to adapt episodes from the original series. But the original episodes ran about 56 minutes each (no commercials), so the first thing that gets jettisoned are the minor characters and the dialogue.

Lost s.4 "Little Prince"....again with lots of information coming fast & furious. Does anyone else think Charlotte is Farraday's daughter? Ben is back up to his old tricks and ain't he a right bastard. Locke beings to understand the island better. Man, this is one strong season.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

that's really too bad about LIFE, the last episode i saw was terrific...ever see a guy take the bullet he was shot with, melt it back into a bullet and then SHOOT the guy who shot him? looks like they are going to take it and remake the bullet again and shoot the guy who made it happen. Life has some wacky stuff in it and i like it a great deal.

and i already thought the mentalist was a clone of USA's Psyche.

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

i really keep WANTING to like Trust Me, good cast good parentage...but seriously ADVERTISING? in this day and age can ANYONE care less about the problems and office politics of ad execs? personally i want to disembowel many of them on primetime. The only way I could watch a show about advertising would be as a straight out comedy.

Tony Bourdain's Food Porn episode of No Reservations is everything it was advertised to be.

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

It's not a 2009 show, but I feel that I have to put on the record that I have officially given up on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

A strong first season season quickly got petered away into endless characters and repetetive situations. And I just can't stand to watch Shirley Manson try to act anymore. Something really disconcerting about her face... Like a chainsaw ice sculpture or something...

Stubblecat wrote:It's not a 2009 show, but I feel that I have to put on the record that I have officially given up on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

A strong first season season quickly got petered away into endless characters and repetetive situations. And I just can't stand to watch Shirley Manson try to act anymore. Something really disconcerting about her face... Like a chainsaw ice sculpture or something...

That is a drag. I'm only just now going through season 1 and having a good time.

Good piece on where Lost is going and how it got there from CNN.There were a couple of things which really stood out for in the piece, not the least of which kind of addresses the heavy time-travel/sci-fi aspect of the show that some in the fan community seem to be bitching about:"The fear is that 'Lost' just became an AP class, and really, what's one's incentive for taking an AP class?" says exec producer Damon Lindelof. "But the show has gotten to that point where it had to let its freak flag fly. It needed to announce, 'You wanna know what the Island is? You wanna know why these people were brought to the Island? You wanna know what their purpose for being there is? Well, it might be a little weirder than you would've hoped.' "

But is it too weird? "I was a little worried about the start of the season, to be honest," says Lilly, battling back a cold and enjoying some late-afternoon Hawaii sun in between takes. "It might sound terrible to say, but the mythology of this show eludes me. I am all about the characters and the interplay of the relationships and the angst of redemption and retribution -- all those good nuggets."

Her costar Matthew Fox has another, more optimistic take. "It feels very different from what 'Lost' has felt like in the past, but in a really good way," says the actor. "There will be many, many answers, lots of things from past seasons that left the audience thinking, 'That's never going to pay off' -- but it does, in really cool ways that make you go 'Holy s---!' "

Of course, "Lost" has always been pretty off its rocker. Ghosts. Locke's legs. Smokey the monster. Those who've hoped "Lost" would avoid sci-fi answers may have been fooling themselves. "Honestly," says Lindelof, "the non-genre answer just isn't that interesting."

And now it's clear the time-travel element of the Island (beyond just the flashbacks/flash-forwards) has been part of the show from the beginning.

"This season, it's like the audience is finally opening up a present that was actually bought and wrapped years ago," says Lindelof. "At least, we hope they think it's a present."

And the other point is at the end of the peice where the producers realize as the show moves towards its climax and as stories get denser and denser, rating will probably continue to go down. And it seems like they are okay with it. It's nice to have a show so smart that does not really have to worry about the ratings at this point.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

Stubblecat wrote:It's not a 2009 show, but I feel that I have to put on the record that I have officially given up on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

A strong first season season quickly got petered away into endless characters and repetetive situations. And I just can't stand to watch Shirley Manson try to act anymore. Something really disconcerting about her face... Like a chainsaw ice sculpture or something...

That is a drag. I'm only just now going through season 1 and having a good time.

Stick with it, bro. I can't disagree with Stubblecat strongly enough here. I think season 2 is very strong, and I've been digging Shirley Manson's character.

"This movie is so bad I can't imagine even Steve T. Power liking it." --Harold Gervais

Lost 05/05Man-o-man. The show is firing on all thrusters. Major plot reveals about the smoke monster and what extended exposure can do to a person. Charlotte muses on chocolate and remembers her time on the island as a child and the person who warned her to never come back. Jin's message to Sun to stay away is instead twisted around by Ben to get her to come back. Ben has a hissy while driving. And then the creepy Mrs. Hawking. Did Locke fix the time shifts? Great stuff.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

While I am certainly enjoying this season of LOST, it seems a little bit of a let down for me if only because things are so explicit. I realize the time shifts are to tell us about island history without doing something boring and simple like finding a book or having someone tell them. I hold out though on proclaiming it is "firing on all thrusters" until I get a bit more reveal. One thing that seems missing this year is the creepy factor. This show used to give me panic attacks, but the more I know the less scary it all is. This started when I found out the Others were just yuppies who bought their clothes from LL Bean catalogs rather than the feral island hillbillies that could appear mysteriously.

Strange things I wonder about:1. How is the scene with smoke monster revealing? It did what it has always done, disappeared back underground which we knew, and the only new info we get is it somehow possessed people to do things after exposure.

2. Anybody catch how they called the blonde girl around the bomb Ellie? Is she really Eloise Hawking? Of course we know Hawking is more than likely Daniel's mother too.

3. A frozen donkey wheel? Seriously! And it is off it's track because Ben turned it and not Locke? REALLY? That doesn't seem like a payoff to me. That seems like a cop out. Is Stephen King finally writing for this show!?!?

Alex: It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. (Clockwork Orange)

I thought finding out that the smoke monster was the guardian of the temple and that with prolonged exposure it could affect a person's mind & behavior to be revealing. And I also found the whole scene with Locke & Jack's father to be especially creepy while the image of time bouncing back & forth because the wrong person fooled with it has stayed with me.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

Dollhouse...01/01At one episode in the show appears to be less than the sum of its parts. Whedon usually writes great hooks, be they plot based or character based and I'm not sure it's there on either front. To be sure there was a lot of interesting material but as with Buffy's final season and a big bad you could not touch, Dollshouse suffers from a main character with literally no personality. One episode in there is no one to root for and become invested in. A lot of shows have first & second episodes where the show really feels like a tug of war over what it wants to be and what it actually is and at this point that war is really on display with no winner in sight. Whedon's direction is solid and Dushku really is quite good but I have no idea what this show wants to be. That said Whedon has a track record with me and I'm probably there for all 13 episodes. Oh and it was really nice seeing the Mutant Enemy credit at the finish.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

I agree completely. I didn't get sucked into the show at all, and I have a feeling that it will take 3 or 4 episodes before everything pulls together.

That being said, I can't imagine that Dollhouse will make it past the end of March. After reading the Joss whedon interview in Rolling Stone, it seems that the show was killed, both creatively and otherwise, before the first episode even aired last night.

I imagine it'll be a great DVD set, but I don't hold out much hope for a season 2.

Being Human...01.04 via bittorrent. The unlikely trio of flatmates consisting of a vampire, a werewolf & a ghost gets more complex. The show is the oddest thing. Every episode thus far starts out kind of slow and going in a direction I think you can peg and by the end I'm left there a little gobsmacked by how things ended up. First off I hope the show gets recommissioned and I don't have to wait until 2010 to get some more. Second, I hope we don't get an Americanized version that dumbs down what is some really interesting, and adult material. Third, I hope a DVD set is coming out soon.Tonight's Chuck versus the suburbs....Chuck & Sarah go all undercover like Mulder & Scully in the 'burbs. And come on.....Andy Richter and Jenny McCarthy? Brian Thompson?Are you kidding me? The storyline with Fulcrum gets kicked up another notch as the show really starts cranking up to speed for the last seven shows of the season. I will say it again....the most entertaining show on TV right now.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

I have seen a couple of episodes of Trust Meit's not a bad show, it's good good actors, decent writingbut it just seems like it's leftover from the 90sin this era, and in this economy...advertising men (barring vintage guys) just aren't that interestingthey make too much money selling people things they don't needi think the producers would have been better off, setting these guys in a starving non-profit org.

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

quick question for those who have watched the entire BBC Life on Mars series. Is the ending satisfying? I caught an episode on BBC canada a while ago and really liked, but I hate wasting time on a show if it doesn't actually wrap up and leave it open ended. any help would be appreciated.

The Butcher wrote:quick question for those who have watched the entire BBC Life on Mars series. Is the ending satisfying? I caught an episode on BBC canada a while ago and really liked, but I hate wasting time on a show if it doesn't actually wrap up and leave it open ended. any help would be appreciated.

The ending is about as definitive as you can get. No open ends left there. It is worth noting however that there is a companion/sequel series called Ashes To Ashes set in the early 1980s. It starts out a little slower than LoM but finishes out its first series in a really strong fashion. Series 2 we should probably see sometime later this year.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare

i caught the pilot of Reaper on Hulu...seems i am developing a pattern, i ignore something until it get's renewed at least once. no sense in falling for something that's not going make it to episode 11, or in the case of Dollhouse, suffering through. I though Reaper was cute, basically a Brimstone lite, watchable if there is nothing else on. I wish they had the rest of the eps online, but only the most recent 3 leading up to the second season premiering March 3rd. I will probably add it to the things i watch on HUlu.

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

molly1216 wrote:i caught the pilot of Reaper on Hulu...seems i am developing a pattern, i ignore something until it get's renewed at least once. no sense in falling for something that's not going make it to episode 11, or in the case of Dollhouse, suffering through. I though Reaper was cute, basically a Brimstone lite, watchable if there is nothing else on. I wish they had the rest of the eps online, but only the most recent 3 leading up to the second season premiering March 3rd. I will probably add it to the things i watch on HUlu.

I watched the first season of Reaper, but wasn't inspired to return for season two. I really liked it at first, but the premise started to wear thin pretty fast. Every episode seemed to be traveling the exact same loop. Ray Wise is a blast as the devil, though.

The Butcher wrote:quick question for those who have watched the entire BBC Life on Mars series. Is the ending satisfying? I caught an episode on BBC canada a while ago and really liked, but I hate wasting time on a show if it doesn't actually wrap up and leave it open ended. any help would be appreciated.

Yeah, the ending is one of the most satisfying that you'll ever see.

And I won't spoil anything, but if you do end up watching any of Ashes To Ashes (which is good, but perhaps not as good as it could be. Great Series 1 finale twist, though), by the end of episode one you get even more closure on the saga of Sam Tyler.

But as for Life On Mars: Totally worth it. Treat yourself to 16 episodes of greatness. The U.S. version makes me want to punch kittens.

The Butcher wrote:quick question for those who have watched the entire BBC Life on Mars series. Is the ending satisfying? I caught an episode on BBC canada a while ago and really liked, but I hate wasting time on a show if it doesn't actually wrap up and leave it open ended. any help would be appreciated.

The ending is about as definitive as you can get. No open ends left there. It is worth noting however that there is a companion/sequel series called Ashes To Ashes set in the early 1980s. It starts out a little slower than LoM but finishes out its first series in a really strong fashion. Series 2 we should probably see sometime later this year.

Is the new series about the same characters, or is just 'set in the same world' kinda deal. I think I'm gonna take the leap anyways, I can get the whole show for about $40 and if some sense of an ending, I can live with that.

The Butcher wrote:Is the new series about the same characters, or is just 'set in the same world' kinda deal. I think I'm gonna take the leap anyways, I can get the whole show for about $40 and if some sense of an ending, I can live with that.

It has a new main character and most of the supporting crew from Life on Mars while it is set about 10 years after the first series. From what I gather the two different periods are very specific points in British history as it relates to the police force. Anyway, you don't need one to enjoy the other but if you develop a Gene Hunt addiction, you kind of have to jump on the sister series.

"The most dementing of all modern sins: the inability to distinquish excellence from success."-David Hare